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The FIA recently hosted its annual prize-giving ceremony for F1 and other motorsports that they govern. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA's president, gave Christian Horner and Red Bull's team principal the trophy for winning the constructors' championship in F1, but that was not all.
During their brief conversation on stage, the FIA president made some humorous yet controversial statements regarding the incident and point system confusion at the 2022 F1 Japanese Grand Prix. Though he started by mentioning the late Dietrich Mateschitz and his racing career, he quickly shifted to the incident in Japan. He said:
"Japan, you said was controversial. No, the FIA was blamed for the points. But it's not FIA which made the rules, it was the teams who made the rules, and we were implementing it. To me, it's very very clear about the FIA. So thank you very much. He [Christian Horner] is right, they deserve the win. Everyone who wins, deserve it."
Though Mohammed Ben Sulayem was about to continue his speech, Stefano Domenicali, F1's CEO, stopped him jokingly and urged everyone to stay focused on the constructors' championship award that was given to Christian Horner. A brief shot of the audience showed Sergio Perez and other team members, who were also seen laughing and smiling as they listened to the speech.
Finally, the FIA president congratulated Red Bull's team principal and expressed how the team and Max Verstappen deserved to win both the constructors' and the drivers' championships.
The Dutchman dominated the field and won the championship with four races left in the season. Red Bull also won the constructors' championship in Austin with three races left in the season.
F1 fans react to the FIA president's humorous statement during prize giving ceremony
Despite the situation being quickly managed by Stefano Domenicali, many fans took to Twitter and various other social media platforms to talk about what the FIA president spoke about. They took a clip of the conversation and posted it on several social media platforms.
Fans took the statement lightly and joked about it on social media, mentioning how Mohammed Ben Sulayem could have been under the influence of alcohol. Since the award ceremony is not only about officially giving awards, but also about relaxing and enjoying the end of another year of motorsport. Hence, it is very much possible that the FIA president was slightly drunk before he gave the constructors' championship trophy.
Since F1 is quite a serious sport, these kinds of antics at the official award ceremony felt slightly awkward to many. They expressed how they felt after watching the heads of the sport speak like this at their own annual event. Of course, these statements were in jest and nothing more.
